Petrol sniffing has never been a major problem in the central Australian community of Utopia.
Still, youth worker Claydon Daniels remembers the devastating toll it once took on some remote Indigenous communities.
“Petrol sniffing did a lot of damage to people’s brains,” he says.
“It’s a lot better now.”
Youth worker Claydon Daniels with some children in Utopia. Source: SBS News
Sniffing petrol to get a temporary high can send dangerous chemicals into the lungs, the blood and the brain, and cause damage over time. It can also cause instant death.
The introduction of government-subsidised low aromatic Opal Fuel across central Australia in the mid-2000s helped cut off the major supply of ‘sniffable’ fuel and since then, rates have dropped significantly. Research published by the Menzies School of Health Research in 2016 found a reduction of about 88 per cent between 2005 and 2014.
But some support service providers say the harmful practice has been creeping back in communities where it had previously been stamped out.
Scott Wilson, CEO of the Aboriginal Drug and Alcohol Council in South Australia, says his organisation is seeing it in some remote South Australian communities as well as those interstate.
“What we’re seeing is that in some of the remote communities is that it’s just starting to slowly start,” he told SBS News.
In some of the remote communities it’s just starting to slowly start. - Scott Wilson, Aboriginal Drug and Alcohol Council
“And if organisations like us, or just communities, don’t actually try and get on top of it straight away, before you know it, you’ll have a couple of people, then you’ll have a few more kids and they’ll end up going to the bad old days where it’ll dominate the life of those communities.”
The introduction of Opal Fuel helped cut off the major supply of ‘sniffable’ fuel. Source: SBS News
Blair McFarland, co-manager of the Central Australian Youth Link-Up Service (CAYLUS), which operates out of Alice Springs, says he has seen as many as 48 flare-ups in remote regions in the past 12 months.
“They’re concerning because a kid can die the very first time they sniff,” he said.
“It is potentially fatal any time it occurs, so we’re always concerned when we hear about it and we always try and take serious steps to try and stop it.”
CAYLUS was set up as a petrol sniffing prevention project in 2002.
Mr McFarland says the organisation aims to mitigate some of the underlying factors that can lead to substance abuse, such as poverty, hunger and boredom, in part through youth programs run in remote areas.
He says, despite the success of Opal Fuel, combatting petrol sniffing is “an ongoing battle”.
“The reasons kids sniff are still there. We’re trying to address those through the youth programs,” he said.
But, he says, funding for his program, which comes in part from the federal government, can be hard to find.
“The overall situation is very much that we’re on a winning platform here.
"We have low aromatic fuel, we have youth programs rolling out, although they’re still not properly funded and there are still gaps.”
Mr Wilson of the Aboriginal Drug and Alcohol Council says gaps in funding for diversionary programs could put children and young people at risk.
“What we’re seeing is that there is a lack of funding for things like that, and if we don’t have the diversionary type activities as well as Opal fuel, then basically people will go back to using substances such as petrol.”
For youth worker Claydon Daniels, the focus is on the future.
“Without sniffing, and looking after the community really well, that’s the way we want to go.”
SBS News has contacted Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion for comment.
